Hi , I have a 2012 Electra EFI, which is generally well finished, but the gloss grey paint on the rear hub is patchy. It isn't bad enough to merit stripping the rim and spokes off and completely respraying, so I am looking for touch-up paint. Hitchcock's can't help, and I have been waiting..... for a reply from Enfield UK for some time. Has anyone been able to source the original grey paint ( spray tin or touch-up), or perhaps found a close match off the shelf from a motor factor?

Hi, and thanks for the welcome. I have corresponded with Watsonian about the shade of paint I'm after for the rear hub of my Electra, and they told me it is 'Battleship Grey'. They don't however keep a stock, and couldn't give me a paint code. So I guess its down to Halford's to see if there is a good match in the car touch-up paint section. Apparently Jaguar used to use a Battleship Grey.

Many of them sell plastic models of aircraft, ships and tanks and the Military used a number of different grays on these.Model builders, being the picky sort of people they often are want authentic colors and the Germans used a large number of grays for their winter campaigns so similar colored paint is often available.

To make matters better, many of these paints come in small clear glass bottles so it is easy to see what your getting and you won't have to buy a large quantity of it.

Testors has marketed an acrylic model paint (probably to please the mothers in the world who don't want their kids touching nasty old enamel) but I don't know how well these will stand up to real world wear.Testors (and others) do still sell oil based enamels which is weatherproof.These model paints come in gloss and flat finishes and there are overcoats that can add gloss or flatness if the original paint isn't exactly what you want.

I took the round panel on the LHS of the rear hub into Halfords and tried to get a match from the 100's of colours they have, but most auto greys are either too dark, too light, or metallic / perlescent. The best match for shade was actually grey primer! Before I open that I'll try my local hobby shop for modelling paint, as suggested. I can also see what gremlin meant about a hint of blue in the colour. It's weird that the UK importer doesn't stock any of the grey, as I can't be the first person wanting to fix the odd blemish on hubs or forks. I am pretty sure it is the same shade as used on the crankcases too.

Nice shed. Anyway, I visited my local branch of Model Zone, and there I found the right shade of grey (or as close as makes no difference) for the rear hub of my 2012 Electra. It is Humbrol code 128 'US Compass Grey' Satin enamel, in a 14ml tin. It is available in both acrylic and spirit based enamel, but I was assured the enamel is much, much tougher. The satin finish has the right sheen. It goes on pretty well with a decent brush and needs ~ 6 hours per coat to fully dry. 2 coats does the job just fine. Thanks again to Arizoni for the hobby shop suggestion.

One of the neat things about the net and forums like this is there are often "different" ideas suggested that one might not normally think of and in this case I just lucked out in recalling my old (long given up) hobby of building plastic models.